2012年8月14日星期二

Case Interview Prep Methods

Question:


I just wanted to inform you that I followed your approach to networking with consultants at the top consultancy firms (MBB).


I had many meetings and spoke to several Partners at the firms in person after using social media to get in contact with them. At one meeting (just three weeks ago), my informational interview with a Partner at Bain turned into an on-the-spot interview as he was so impressed with my achievements and CV to date.


Whilst, the competency questions went really well and my interpersonal skills shined through, which he noted, my performance during the estimation questions, etc., was not as good. This was due to lack of practice – I was unaware that the informational interview would turn into an on-the-spot interview.


Nonetheless, he took my CV and said he would pass it on to the recruitment team. I anticipate interviews will be [in 3-4 months], hence why I was considering purchasing LOMS as soon as possible. That would give me 3/4 months to prepare.


Alongside the LOMS programme, is there anything else you recommend I must know? My quantitative skills also requires some fixing as it has been a long time since I did maths (almost 4 years ago). Will the LOMS programme help me improve my quantitative reasoning skills? Also would you recommend me getting ‘Case In Point,’ as I already have your book ‘Case Interview Secrets‘?


Indeed it is a difficult time for those undergrad students who are doing internships abroad during the summer, as we have to manage our work placement and also use the summer to effectively prepare for the upcoming interviews. I am also setting up a venture which has increased the workload.


Thank you for all your help and your fantastic resources. I read your emails everyday.


My Reply:


Yes, those informal cases can be a bit of a surprise!


In terms of the regular interview, LOMS helps a lot, as does having someone to practice with. If you don’t have anyone near you, I will be introducing a partner finder service soon at www.CaseInterviewPartner.com .


Bottom line – LOMS repetition and live practice repetition help a lot. The more the better.


In terms of math, for basic computations I suggest using my free practice tool www.CaseInterviewMath.com – you can compare your scores to scores of other people in the community. This improves basic math skills. The other type of quantitative math is structured estimation math (more complicated than the estimation practice questions on caseinterviewmath.com).


See the chapter on Estimation Questions in Case Interview Secrets for examples and the general methodology. Once you get the general approach down, practice doing it in everyday life — estimate the average total revenues of Mexican food restaurants in London in a year, estimate the number of tires sold in India in a year, etc…


If you execute the plan above, you will be in very good shape for the live interviews.


Good luck!




Additional Resources


If you found this post useful, I suggest becoming a registered member (it's free) to get access to the materials I used to pass 60 out of 61 case interviews, land 7 job offers, and end up working at McKinsey.


Members get access to 6 hours of video tutorials on case interviews, the actual frameworks I used to pass my interviews, and over 300 articles on case interviews.


To get access to these free resources, just fill out the form below:





















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Timing of the Interview Process

Question:


First of all, thank you for your LOMS program! It was so helpful and really helped me to learn structuring and the language I should use during case interviews. I am currently an experienced hire with no previous experience in consulting and am looking to make a move into consulting. I have been networking extensively during the past few months and have developed some good professional relationships with consultants at different firms.


What do you recommend if I am farther along the interview process with certain firms, but it seems likely that I may start the interview process at another firm which I prefer (yet there is no guarantee that an interview invite will be extended)? Would you recommend that I push back the interviews at the firms I am currently interviewing at? Or try to get an offer from these firms and then wait to accept, or accept and then decline if I get an offer from the firm I prefer?


I am not sure how to handle this. Since I am getting all my interviews through referrals, I would feel bad getting an offer and then delaying or accepting and then declining.


My Reply:


This is a tricky situation (but you already knew that!). For your backup firms whose recruiting process happens to occur earlier than your target firms, you can try to drag out the process from a scheduling stand point. So if they want to interview you this week, you’re busy and try to schedule it for next week. Across 3 rounds of interviews, you might be able to buy yourself 3 weeks of time. It’s not a lot, but it helps close the gap.


If you get an offer, a lot of people accept and then quit. I personally am not a fan of this, even though it does happen. The problem with this is it makes the person who helped you get the interview look bad — not because you turned down the offer for a better one, but how you turned down their offer for a better one. It causes some problems on their end because they rejected someone else, because you said “yes,” etc…


I personally tend to prefer a more straight forward approach. If you get an offer from your backup firm first, you would say, “That’s great. I’m still in my recruiting process and expect to be done by X date. I’d like to make a well-informed decision; would it be okay if I let you know my decision by X date?”


Ninety-five percent of the time this will be acceptable on their end, provided X date is not too far in the future. If it’s two to four weeks, you’re probably fine. If it’s more than that, 50/50 chance they get irritated. If it’s two or more months, that’s going to be a problem for them. So your strategy is to drag your feet a little on the scheduling earlier in the process so that you get closer to X date, without having to stretch out the time difference between X date and the date you got the offer.




Additional Resources


If you found this post useful, I suggest becoming a registered member (it's free) to get access to the materials I used to pass 60 out of 61 case interviews, land 7 job offers, and end up working at McKinsey.


Members get access to 6 hours of video tutorials on case interviews, the actual frameworks I used to pass my interviews, and over 300 articles on case interviews.


To get access to these free resources, just fill out the form below:





















First Name *
Email *
Choose a Password *

Note: All registrations require you to confirm your email address.

Please type your email address carefully.





via CaseInterview.com http://www.caseinterview.com/interview-process-timing


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Job Choices - August 2012

Your digital edition of Job Choices - August 2012 is available now. Clicking on the Table of Contents will deliver you directly to that page of your issue. Thank you for reading!


- Job Choices - July 2012

- Contents

- Opportunities by Employer/Website Index

- Starting Your Job Search

- Playing Fair: Your Rights and Responsibilities as a Job Seeker

- 8 Steps to Job-Search Success

- What Employers Want

- Social Media in Your Job Search

- Stoke Interest With Pinterest

- Building Relevant Work Experience

- Tips for Maximizing Your Internship Experience

- Career Confidence

- Researching Employers

- The Art of Writing Job-Search Letters

- 7 Letters

- Principles for Letter Writing

- Build the Resume Employers Want

- Resume Basics

- What Matters?

- Applying Online

- Resume Tips

- The Veteran’s Guide to Developing a Resume

- Interview Essentials

- Sample Questions

- Questions to Ask Your Interviewer

- Dress for Interview Success

- Interview Types and Tips

- Tips for Becoming a Video Interview Star

- Uncle Sam Wants You: Federal Jobs and Internships For Students and Recent Graduates

- Your First Year on the Job

- Grad School: To Go or Not to Go?

- Grad School: Application Timeline

- Grad School: Getting In

- Opportunities by Occupation

- Special Opportunities


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via JOBCHOICES / JOBCHOICES http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nace/JobChoices0812/index.php


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